Trust and Hate
by rachelthewise84
Summary: "I know you hate me, but I need you to trust me" Story centers around my OC, Grace and her run in with the turtles. Leo hates her and she hates him back, but sometimes you have to trust the ones you hate more than anything 2014/2016 Bay turtles
1. Chapter 1

"Dammit, this is gonna be harder to fix than I thought."

Leonardo looked down from his post on the roof to his brother, Donatello, who was hunched over the side of the building, meddling with a broken surveillance camera. It was one of the many he had installed all over the city to help him and his brothers keep an eye on certain areas from the lair or when they were in other parts of the city. With delicate sensors embedded in them, they were able to accurately pick up disturbances and send the information right to Donnie's headset.

They usually picked up minor things, such as a person or stray animal sifting through dumpsters, but what mattered was that they could detect crimes like break-ins or muggings or other suspicious activity. They had even once picked up on a small group of Foot Clan soldiers, which the brothers were glad to take out. Despite being annoying to set up, they did prove to be a significant help in stopping crime in the outskirts and overlooked areas of the city.

However, it had been a few days since Donnie had received any alerts at all from Upper Manhattan. In fact, he realized there was no signal to or from the cameras. So on patrol that night, Leo offered to check out what was wrong with them with him.

"Are they really that bad?" Leo asked, trying to look over his brother's shoulder to see the small device in his hand.

"Yeah, its busted through." Donnie sighed, running a hand over his face. "If all the others are like this, I'm going to have to uninstall, fix, and reinstall all of them. This could take a while."

"You think it could have been any civilian workers? Perhaps they accidentally broke them without knowing." Leo tried to reason.

Donnie shook his head, setting the camera parts on the ledge of the roof they were sitting on. He looked at his brother, who winced at the sight of the damaged sensor as he picked it up slowly. Leo sighed and put it back down. He was glad Donnie knew how to work with these things, because even though he'd never admit it, he was pretty much clueless when it came to anything other than the tv and the microwave.

"This couldn't have been broken just by chance, not with these. I built them to withstand severe weather and numerous hits. They're also very well hidden, easily overlooked by anyone just passing by. These damages were intentional, and by someone who knows their way around high tech stuff like this."

Leo opened his mouth to say something else when Donnie spoke up again. "And just in the northern area? That can't just be a coincidence!"

Leo shrugged, not knowing what else to think. He stepped away and walked to the other side of the roof to keep watch while Donnie tried to fix his equipment. While scoping out the perimeter, he noticed a stray tool sitting beside an exhaust vent. Curious, he crouched down and picked it up; it was a Phillips-head screwdriver, a small one, used for small things, like the one that Donnie had used to unscrew the camera from its place. As he took a step back, he felt his foot hit something small and metal. It clattered softly as it scooted along the rooftop. Leo bent down and picked it up; a small Allen wrench.

Donnie looked up at Leo after hearing the small ting of the tool he kicked, asking him what he had found. Leo looked over the area once more to see if there was anything else. He didn't see anything else suspicious, so he brought over his findings to his brother.

He poured the tools into Donnie's outstretched hand. Donnie took one look at them and let out a short laugh, but not in amusement. It _was _someone who knew their way around technology and mechanics. These were tools that could be used to uninstall the camera, and it seemed like whoever broke them, used the screwdriver to stab though the sensor. Then it seemed like they just put it back in place and had tossed away the tools in a hurry. They must have also figured out how to silence them, because Donnie didn't know how long they had been turned off before he had noticed. If they were ever to be damaged, they were programmed to send an alert right to Donnie.

Donnie looked up at his brother, who was watching over his shoulders with a hard look on his face. "What are you thinking?"

Leo looked back at Donnie and shook his head a little. "I've got a bad feeling about this. No one knows that were the ones putting these up. Hardly anyone knows we exist, and NYPD agreed to keep their mouths shut about us. Even they don't know about these."

Leonardo huffed, and turned back around to look over the area again. Donnie stood up and and pocketed the broken camera, along with the other tools he had used to try and fix it. He looked at the time on his headset and saw it was already nearing 1 am. They both knew Splinter didn't like them out so late.

"Hey, Leo, it's a quarter till 1. How about we go check the rest tomorrow, maybe we'll have a better plan then-"

Just as Leo turned back towards his brother, they heard a sudden scampering noise not too far from them. Leo's head turned towards the far side of the roof immediately and Donnie crouched down beside him. They gave each other a curt nod and spanned out, silently scanning the area and arming themselves. After a moment of suspense, another sound came from the right side of the roof top, except this time the scampering turned to footsteps, running footsteps.

Donnie looked to Leo, who was already off chasing the dark clothed figure. He followed close behind his brother, who was quickly gaining on them. The person turned their head for a split second before pulling something out of their pocket and tossing it behind them. A quick but extremely bright flash of light came from the little item upon hitting the ground in front of them, momentarily blinding the two. The turtles shielded their faces with their hands, attempting to block out the painful light. Through the spots in their vision, they could see that the fugitive had already put more distance between them. Leo was the first to take off, while Donnie picked up the device and pocketed it, planning to inspect it later.

Leo quickly caught up to the suspect again. He swung his katana blade, aiming for the figures' feet. They jumped out of the way, just barely missing the blade. They pulled out what looked like a switch blade and threw it straight at Leo's face. Leonardo blocked it with ease and pulled out a small kunai, sending it into the back of the fugitives shoulder. The person let out a sting of curse words and began to slow down, Leo using this advantage to leap in front of them. The person skidded to a halt to avoid running into Leo. Donnie came up fast behind them, unfortunately too fast, because the fugitive dove between Donnie's legs, escaping quickly while the brothers ran into each other. The fugitive pulled out the kunai and ran off, only turning back to let out a mocking laugh.

The person managed to jump to the next building without much effort and ran as fast as they could. They saw a fire escape at the end of the building and thanked their lucky stars. They skillfully diverted their destination and swung down the fire escape, jumping off the second floor level and hitting the ground on two feet.

Unfortunately they went down too fast, and upon landing, lost their footing from the sudden stop of momentum. They crashed hard into a metal dumpster, hitting their head in the process. It was most likely a concussion they'd have to deal with later. They struggled to get up quickly, but saw that the turtles had already dropped down and surrounded them.

Desperately looking around for more options they noticed another fire escape on the other side of the street. They ran out of the alleyway quickly and out into the street. A taxi came to a screeching halt, almost hitting the fugitive. The driver honked at them loudly, but they kept moving without hesitation. They climbed up onto the dumpster below the ladder and scaled quickly, ignoring the burning ache in their muscles and shoulder from fatigue. They couldn't get tired now.

Leo and Donnie had already made it up the building they just came down from and planned to crossover at the end of the street where the two sides connected. This person had been watching them, and was most likely breaking Donnie's cameras. Now that the safety of their family was potentially at risk, Leo would stop at nothing to catch this individual.

The turtles crossed over and once again were quickly gaining on the figure. By now, the individual was growing tired and was beginning to slow down, the pain in their shoulder almost becoming too much. They couldn't give up now.

They stupidly looked back at the turtles. Their foot caught onto a copper pipe that ran across the roof, tripping them up. They hit the gravel ground and rolled. As they looked up, for a moment, Leo caught a glimpse of their eyes; big and brown and filled with fear. While momentarily distracted, the person pulled out their acquired kunai and flung it at him. He skillfully deflected it with his katana, the tip of his blade slicing down into the fugitive's leg. They cried out and dragged themselves back, only to hit the border that went around the roof.

Leo and Donnie bounded towards them intimidatingly, and they knew they were in deep shit. They looked over the ledge behind them; it was a five story drop, but it was the only way out. The building on the other side of the alley was a shorter, so they could drop down and roll. Just before Leo could grab them, they slipped over the edge. Both turtles let out a cry of frustration as they slipped through their grasp yet again.

The fugitive let out a proud laugh as they ran across the roof. They were getting away, not without injury, but they were really going to do it.

But of course, they celebrated too soon. They hadn't seen a blade thrown at them, but they felt the searing pain as it ripped through the back of their thigh, the point just barely poking through the front of their thigh. They let out a scream as they collapsed onto the gravel roof, thick red blood pouring out of their leg. They looked up at what had hit them. Their stomach flipped when they saw a huge red handled, triple bladed sai sticking out of their leg and four huge dark figures bounding towards them.

* * *

So this is a story I've had in my doc manager on my account for so long and never did much with it. Just recently I posted a one-shot story about Leonardo and my own OC named Grace called "Spar With Me." Technically, that chapter is from this story, but I thought it would be easier to post the one-shot rather than a whole story. Over time my ideas for this story have changed and I honestly don't remember what my original intention for this story was. I am thinking about readding the one-shot to this story, or I might leave it. I'm not sure. If this story gets enough attention I think I will try to work on it more :)

So this story is about my OC, Grace and her run in with the turtles. I'm not sure if this is going to be a regular story with a plot and problem and solution or just words on a page not really going anywhere. I want to make it a story story, but I'm currently at a loss at how I should do that. But I'll come up with something sooner or later.

I hope you guys like it :)


	2. Chapter 2

Thoughts raced a million miles an hour through the fugitives mind as the four menacing turtles towered over her. "_This is it_", she thought to herself, "_They've found me_." Though she wasn't ready to give up yet, as she never was ready to ever give up, the world was becoming increasingly blurry. She took another look at her leg; seeing herself laying in a pool of her own blood was not the ideal last stand she wanted, but she knew this day would come. She knew they wouldn't be so generous the next time. They wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Her body trembled and her hands were cold, clammy and bloody. She tried to think of anything that could aid her escape, but she was losing blood quickly and didn't know how much longer she could pull through. There was no chance, the four figures were huge, fast and skilled; as they should be. They were terrifying and cold; exactly as promised. The girl swallowed thickly, unsure of what was to come next. She looked up to the figure standing in front of her, his almost glowing blue eyes bore into hers. He crouched down slowly, his piercing gaze never faltering. She felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Who are you, and why were you watching us?" Leonardo's voice was eerily calm, but also demanding. A deadly seriousness dripped from his words.

Paralyzed with fear, she couldn't answer. The figure drew one of his katana and held blade to her neck, the tip of the blade just resting on the fragile skin of her neck. This individual was definitely the culprit who had destroyed the cameras. This confirmed that they had known about him and his brothers. Who knew how long they'd been watching them. Leo couldn't take any chances. The thick tension was cut when a loud, gravelly voice came, impatience clear in their voice.

"Answer the damn question!"

The figure in front of her broke his gaze, much to her relief. He rolled his eyes and stood up, immediately arguing with the owner of said loud voice. Her ears rung louder with every moment that passed, so she didn't pay much attention to the distant sounding voices. Cold sweat dripped down the sides of the girl's face under her mask, her eyes glazing over. Donnie crouched down and pulled out a small pen light. With a click, it shone into her eyes, switching between the two. He stood up and tried to alert his two arguing brothers, but they were caught up in whatever they were yelling about.

The last thing the girl remembered was the two's loud arguing, but she couldn't make out anything they were saying. The one who had checked her eyes went back and forth between trying to get a response out of her and giving orders to the forth member. The world around her became muffled and disoriented. She tried her hardest to get a grip on herself, but she had already lost so much blood. She was exhausted; her adrenaline had run all out. She had managed one more turn of her head before she dropped, the world finally going dark. The voices around her faded and a wave of contentment came over her. The last thing she felt was a large, but soft hand grab hers as she slipped away into unconsciousness.

Flashes of bright lights, talking, and movement filled her dreamless sleep as she slipped in and out of consciousness. Something in her subconscious knew she was in an unfamiliar place, but her body was so heavy and tired. Occasionally when she would slip into consciousness for a moment or two, she would see a big figure in the dim room she laid in. It was a big round black mass that seemed to be moving. Sometimes she heard humming coming from it and sometimes she could make out a face and something purple. She wasn't able to tell what is was and she'd slip back out.

The girl was pulled from her comfortable dark abyss by a steady, shrill beeping noise. Her eyelids felt like concrete, and it took way more out of her than it should have for her to open her eyes. She scanned her surroundings as far as she could see without turning her head, which was pounding harshly.

_"A concussion",_ she thought to herself, "_I've had worse"_.

She tried to lift her head, but a sudden sharp pain that attacked her whole head forced her to stop.

After a moment, she opened her eyes again and looked down at herself. She saw that she had on the same clothes, except the bottom of her left pant leg was missing and replaced with several bandages. Both of her arms had IV needles sticking in them, one in the crook of her right elbow and the other in her left hand. The needles were connected to drip bags on either side of her bed. Following the bag on her right back down to her arm she noticed something wrapped around her wrist. She lifted her hand slightly, but was stopped by a thick leather restraint that was connected to the bed. Her mind went blank the moment realizing she had been taken captive.

Her heart rate sped up as fear and questions flooded her mind. Where was she? Why was she in this bed? Who bandaged her wound? Why wasn't she dead yet?

She hadn't realized that she was also hooked up to a heart monitor, which began beeping loudly. She looked over at her left arm to see the same kind of restraint around that wrist too, and two more at her feet one wrapped around each ankle. She pulled against the restrains, becoming more and more frantic and desperate to get out. Finally, the thick strap around her right wrist gave way. She clawed at the strap around her left hand, which was much easier to get off with another hand. She sat up quickly, wincing at the pounding in her head and burning pain in her thigh.

After hurriedly untying her feet, she went onto ripping out the needles in her arm, hand and any other patches that were stuck to her. Looking around, she found that she was alone, but after taking off the heart monitor, she knew it was only a matter of time before someone else came in.

After unhooking everything from herself, she swung her right leg over the side of the bed. Her left leg was in a large splint and thickly bandaged, so it took a lot of strength to move it. And a lot self restraint to not cry out at the burning pain that shot through her leg. She knew she had gotten hurt bad, but somehow didn't expect it to hurt like a motherfu-

Suddenly a large door at the end of the room swung open, revealing a large dark figure. The girl's breath caught in her throat as she slipped to the floor as quietly as she could, muttering a curse under her breath. She crawled under the bed, which was dark due to the minimal light in the sketchy room she was in. Heavy footsteps quickly reached the bed she was just in, but she was already halfway out from under it, dragging her weak body across the cold concrete floor under what looked like a desk or table.

The girl could barely hear anything over the loud pounding in her head and her own heavy breathing she was trying to steady, so when her captor realized she was crawling away, he quickly caught up to her. She gave a small cheer for herself in her head when she found a small opening in the wall across from the desk she crawled under. Just as she reached the opening however, something grabbed onto her right ankle. It was a hand, a large, menacing hand.

Her stomach dropped. She slowly looked over her shoulder, bracing herself for whoever was going to be there. Images of the scariest human beings raced through her mind, as she wondered what the last face she would ever see looked like. Surely she was going to be killed, right here and now. As she looked however, she came face to face with a large, horrifying non human being. All color drained from her face as she shook, eyes locking with the glowing red eyes of a large hulking monster.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The voice was not how she expected at all. She imagined a deep, gravelly voice with venom dripping from its words. She imagined the owner of the voice was a dark heavy built monster that could kill her with one blow. And there were four of them, if she could remember, if that was really happened. She remembered the piercing blue eyes that burned into her soul, but was surprised to see two large amber eyes looking at her, in a mix of confusion and amusement.

The large figure crouched down, attempting to make himself seem smaller and less of a threat. It wasn't working as well as he had hoped, because she had begun to squirm in his firm grip.

"Hey hey, don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." the figure said in a calm voice, a hint of amusement hidden in his voice.

The girl frantically looked around, searching for anyway out, or anything she could use to protect herself. A small gleaming object caught her eye, and it was just within arms reach. Catching her captor off guard, she snatched the object, whatever it was, and swiped at him. The sharp object made contact with him, causing him to recoil and let go of her ankle.

The girl used this opportunity to drag herself from his reach. She grabbed onto the top of the desk and heaved herself to her feet, only putting weight on her right leg. At this altitude, the room and the figure was in a better life. She could clearly see now that the person looming over her was a...

_"A fuckin' turtle?" _She thought to her self.

The turtle-monster being held a large hand to his face, where she had swiped him. A bit of blood had trailed down his hand, suggesting she had got him good. As the turtle-being stood up straight, the girl craned her neck and looked in astonishment at how massive this being was. _It has to be at least 7 feet tall..._

The being looked to her with one eye, the other half of his face covered by his hand. In the other hand, was a pair of worn glasses, the bridge tapped to keep the frame together. The girl was already trying making a run for it again, but she wasn't making it very far.

"Hey stop! You're going to get hurt! I'm trying to help you!" The turtle called after her.

He reached out his free hand tried to grab her, but she slipped out of the way just in time. Unfortunately, the sudden movement threw her off balance and sent her crashing into a metal cart of miscellaneous tools and parts. The crash rang loudly through the room and she fell to the ground hard.

Things after that went too quickly for the girl to process. Another large figure, or two, came rushing into the room. Arguing, or yelling was shot back and forth between them. She felt her left leg burning and her head was pounding even more. The room became hazy and dizzy. She could feel herself slipping into the comfortable darkness again. She fought to stay awake, but it was too much.

* * *

I was going to make this longer, but I think stopping at 1,800 words was good enough for tonight :)

I'll be honest, it feels nice to write again, even though I'm really just revising these first couple of chapters. I think that's a good start to getting back into writing. I'm actually proud of this story now lol. I bet you tomorrow I'm going to read this over and wonder wtf was I thinking but that's ok. We ourselves are always our worst critics.

Little by little, my oc's backstory will be revealed, so y'all won't be kept in the dark for too long

hope you like it :)


	3. Chapter 3

Mikey was the last of the three to come in, following closely behind Raphael. He hadn't realized Raph had stopped in the doorway, and ran right into his bigger brother, who turned around and shoved him back in annoyance.

"Hey! I'm just trying to get through!" Mikey pushed his way past his always angry brother, who muttered some comment, but Mikey shook it off and made his was over to Donnie.

Donnie wiped the blood on his hand off onto his pant leg and tossed his glasses onto a nearby work table. Ignoring the yelling coming from his eldest brother, he bent over the unconscious girl and tucked an arm under her legs and another under her back, lifting her out of the mess she had thrown herself into. Standing up slowly, he began to feel around with his feet as to not trip over anything and cause more damage to the room, himself or the girl.

Since Donnie couldn't see without his glasses very well, he jumped a little when Mikey seemed to have popped up out of nowhere. Mikey helped him lay the girl back on the bed and went to his main desk where he kept a spare pair of glasses. Donnie gladly took them, thanking Mikey and instructing him to watch over the girl.

"Are you even listening to me? What the hell happened in here?" Donnie rolled his eyes and grabbed a clean towel off a tool cabinet for his face. He would look at the cut later to asses the damage.

"Yes, I heard you, but in case you didn't notice I was busy putting our "guest" back where she belongs." Donnie replied sarcastically.

Donnie pushed past Leo, who was practically boiling with anger. He looked at Raph who was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and watching Leo closely. Donnie went to the white cabinet at the front of the room and gathered medical supplies, like disinfectant solution, stitching thread and wrap to close back the wound on the girls leg, which undoubtedly opened back up in the commotion. The ever growing red spot on the white bandages confirmed it.

"Well I'm waiting, Don." Leo snapped, folding his arms in annoyance.

Donnie let out a sigh and glared at his brother. "She woke up sooner than I had expected. I was out of the room for a second-"

"You left her alone?" Leo interjected before Donnie could finish his explanation.

"For a second! Jeez let me finish before you start bitching at me!" Donnie shouted, trying not to drop any of his supplies. "And for your information, I was going to the bathroom. Sorry for being being a living being that has to go to the bathroom every once in a while."

Leo threw his hands up and let out a huff. "Fine. Sorry. Go ahead."

"I was out for a few _seconds_ when she woke up. She was scared. She probably doesn't know whats going on. If I woke up in a random dark room tied down and hooked up to machines I'd be pretty damn scared too." Donnie set his supplies on a metal rolling table and turned back to Leo.

"She somehow broke out of her restraints and climbed out of the bed. She didn't get far with the condition she's in. I was going to take her back to her bed but," Donnie bent over and picked up the bloodied screw driver, just a small one but enough to do a bit of damage. He let out a small chuckle, "she grabbed this that was lying on the ground and got me with it. Then she went tumbling back and knocked herself unconscious. Which could mean a potential concussion or other head injury."

"How did she escape? Did you even tie her down?" Leo pressed.

Raph cut in with his own comment, "Maybe if 'Mr. Perfect' did it the first time none ah this woulda happened, would it?" he teased.

Leo shot Raph a deadly look. "Shut up Raph, stay out of this. Don't you have a dojo to break?"

"Don't you have a stick to pull out of your ass?" The red-clad turtle retorted. Mikey let out a laugh before covering his mouth as Leo shot him a look too.

Leo huffed and walked over to Mikey, grabbing his arm and directing him toward the exit. "You two go find something else to do."

Mikey tried to argue but Raph pushed him out of the room before he could say anything, shutting the door behind him. The two talked loudly as they walked away from the room. Leo turned his attention back to Donnie, who was beginning to unwrap the disheveled bandages from the girls leg. Leo didn't say anything as he studied her sleeping form. He noticed a small bottle of morphine on the cart. She would be out for a while longer, giving Don time to fix whatever damage she had done.

Leonardo found a stool a couple feet away and pulled it up to the end of the bed. He sat down and watched his brother carefully sterilizing the area and preparing to remove the torn sutures and replace them. He grimaced at the fresh blood that seeped from the wound, turning his head to advert his view. He swallowed hard, trying to think of something other than the wound. He was always able to handle the sight of blood, but needles were what got him. They made him queasy and uneasy. He was good at hiding it-most times- but there were times when he had to leave the room.

Eventually, Donnie got up to dispose of the used up or bloody items in a proper waste bin. Leo looked back at the the unconscious girl, who had fresh bandages covering her thigh and a blanket covering her. She looked comfortable, given the condition she was in. Leo almost felt bad, but steeled his emotions and went to work on new restraints.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Leo looked up to see Donnie standing beside him, drying his hands on a hand towel.

"She is going to wake up soon. Given how she acted upon waking up the first time, she needs to be tied down. Tighter, or more stable this time." Leo replied.

"But she's fine right now, just giver her a break. Maybe if-"

"No _maybe's_. She needs to be tied down, and I'm going to make sure it's done right." Leo finalized.

Donnie huffed, and started his sentence again. "Maybe, if she isn't tied up, she won't be as freaked out. Maybe then she'll trust us, at least a little. Trust that we won't hurt her."

Leo finished the strap on her ankle and pulled it tight. He sighed and looked back at Donnie, who was holding his damp towel to his temple, wiping off the drying blood.

"Frankly, I don't care if she trusts us. I don't care if she's scared. With what she knows, she should be. And hurting her? Well, if she's smart then she won't get hurt." Leo said as he stood up.

Donnie looked at his brother with annoyance. He rolled his eyes and checked her vitals on the machine next to her. Her blood pressure was off, since she had lost quite a bit of blood. Donnie debated heading to the blood bank and swiping a few bags, but he'd have to do blood work to find out what blood type she was to prevent any other complications.

Leo took a seat on the stool again and folded his arms. Donnie knew this time his brother was going to wait for the mystery girl to wake up. Donnie sighed and walked out of the lab. All the commotion had made him hungry.

It was about 4 am when the machines started beeping rapidly.

The blue-clad leader shot up in alarm. He had been dozing off until the machines went off, so he was wide awake now. Donnie had fallen asleep at his desk in the front of the room, and was woken up by the machines as well. He blinked the sleep from his eyes as he threw on his glasses and stumbled across the lab half-awake. Leo got up to approach the machine but the girl caught his eye.

Her body began to shake and her eyelids were half open. Leonardo realized she was seizing and turned her onto her side, holding her upper body as steady as he could. Donnie quickly reached over and undid her restraints to ease the pulling on her shoulders.

Leo grabbed at Donnie and tired to stop him from undoing the restraint but his hand was swatted away. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

Donnie huffed angrily and snapped at Leo. "She's _seizing_. What harm is she going to do to you? She'll rip her arm out of her socket if I don't!"

Before Leo could say anything else, Donnie checked the machine and raced back to the cabinet in the front of the room. He called back to his brother and told him to keep her steady like how he was as he grabbed something.

Donnie ran back to the girl, who looked pale and lifeless. He quickly, but steadily, injected something into the girls IV. The machines began to slow down and so did her shaking. He took the syringe out and set it aside, taking out a pen light and checked her eyes. As quickly as it started, it was over.

Leo blinked rapidly as he tried to process what had just happened. He let go of the girls shoulders and laid her back to how she was. Donnie looked over her head, shoulders, and leg wound to make sure she hadn't hurt herself further. After he was satisfied, he turned around to Leo.

"What the hell? Donnie questioned.

"What? What the hell what?" Leo asked, pulling an innocent look.

"Are you really so paranoid that she's going to try something? She was having a seizure. A _seizure_, Leo!"

Donnie's face was inches from Leo's. Leo could feel the anger seething from his younger brother. He looked past his brother and to the girl again. Her hands were still unrestrained, and as much as it irked him, Donnie was right. She had a seizure and now she's asleep. She can't do anything in the condition she was in. But his pride wouldn't let him say all of that.

"I'm just trying to take precautions. She could have been faking it for all we know. As a way to get us to drop our guard." Leonardo seemed to convince himself more than anyone else.

Donnie looked at him with total confusion. "Leonardo. _Why_ would you think she could be faking it? She's got a _brain injury_. She's _hurt_ and _exhausted_. She's _unconscious_."

Leo huffed and turned away, walking back to his seat and sitting down on it. Donnie stood in the same spot for a moment. Finally, he shook his head and walked back to his desk. He looked over the girl again, before shifting his gaze to his eldest brother. His back was turned to him, but he could still imagine the look on his face.

Leonardo had not been very easy going since the Kraang invasion. It was almost like a whole personality change. He was angry a lot, he pushed his brothers to work harder in training, even to the brink of exhaustion. He was always serious on missions and patrols and would hardly partake in any fun activities when April and Casey would come over. Both Splinter and April had taken him aside on many occasions and tried to get him to talk to them about it, but he would always brush them off and disappear. Leo argued more with the brothers; there was even an argument between Mikey and him, which had never happened before. That night Mikey stayed at April's apartment.

Donnie mentally sighed. He wished things hadn't gotten so complicated with their fearless leader. Donnie remembered the time when Mikey told him that instead of "fearless" it should be "fearful," since it seemed like their older brother was afraid of everything. Turns out, it wasn't that far off.

Donnie wished things could just go back to the way they were. He knew that him and his family would take the meditating, goodie-two-shoes, somewhat laid back Leonardo over this new leader he's become. He hoped that one day Leo would wake up and see that he's hurting them, whether he's intending to or not.

* * *

here is chapter 3.

It has been WAYY too long since i've updated this, but oh well lol. I've gotten back into the tmnt spirit for at least another chapter, so here you guys go :)))


	4. Chapter 4

Morning had come warm and welcoming to the vast city of New York, the sun's rays stretching out and touching every last inch of the earth as it could. Somehow, it even managed to reach its beams of light down through the countless nooks and crannies of sewers and into Master Splinter's meditation room. There, sat Leonardo, back straightened, resting on his knees in a meditative state.

It was sometime around 6 am that morning that Leo finally decided to get up and do something other than force his heavy eyelids to stay open as the vile creature in front of him slept. He'd first gone to the kitchen and gotten himself something to eat and drink, having become in need of sustenance from the unexpected events of the night he had just endured. He opened the fridge to see what there was, but realized that they needed to go to the store desperately. He leaned against the door for a moment and sighed. He then straightened up and closed it.

He turned around and scanned the kitchen counters for anything in plain sight. He spotted the container of brownies that Mikey had made from when April came over the past weekend. He tiredly shrugged to himself and swayed over to the other side of the kitchen, pulling off the lid and taking out a couple. He stuffed one in his mouth and took another with his free hand. With his other hand, he pushed the lid back on the container before making his way out of the kitchen.

Leo finished both brownies in just a couple steps out of the kitchen and meandered through the lair. He found himself heading for the bathroom, to which he took one look at and immediately felt the need to use it.

Leonardo was never one to spend more time than required in the bathroom, but just before he was about to open the door to leave, something caught his eye in the mirror. The turtle looked into his reflection on the drab mirror, studying his eyes and the mask he wore. Looking at himself, he got the feeling that something was off, or wrong with his image. He couldn't quite place it, so he assumed that it was his mask.

The blue ninja reached up and untied the tails of his mask and let it fall off his face and into his hands. He looked over it for a moment, turning it over a couple times to make sure it was okay. Looking back up at himself, he almost laughed at how different he looked without it. There weren't many times that he removed his mask after he earned it five years ago.

Leo's eyes widened, blinking as if he had just thought that right. "_Has it really been five years?" _

The turtle looked down at his mask again and let out a chuckle. It really had been that long already. He and his brothers were nearing 20 now. Two whole decades. So much time had passed already. It was almost like yesterday they were 15 and went above ground for the first time.

Leonardo looked back up at himself and sighed. He noticed some bags under his eyes from his restlessness. He didn't even know that was possible. While he was still a turtle, being a mutant gave him odd human like features. Sometimes all these things about him never fazed him, having grown up like that and having three other brothers who looked him made it all seem normal. But there were still times throughout his life where he felt ashamed and uncomfortable with himself.

From the beginning, he knew he was different. He knew his entire world was like one out of a sci-fy movie. He could remember days when he was younger when he would stand in front of the mirror and question his existence. Why was he like this? Why were his brothers, and father, like this? Why couldn't they go up to the surface? Why would people be afraid of them?

Master Splinter always taught the brothers that they were different for a reason. For a long time Leonardo didn't know what that reason was. Even now, he still wonders what reasons he meant.

Leo would never tell, but he is, and always has been, insecure. About himself, about the way he looks. He strives for perfection in everything he does, even if that means coming off as the bad guy for trying to keep his brothers in line. He doesn't always notice, but subconsciously he always looks at himself any chance he gets. He always made fun of Raph for that as they got older, but the more teasing he did, the more it seemed to be true for himself.

He is probably the most insecure about his leadership skills. There have been numerous times since they became an official team where Splinter has had to sit him down and either try to get something through to him, or reassure him that he was still young and ever learning. There had only ever been a number of nights that Leonardo had broken down over anything on both hands, and all of those times had been over the same thing; was he good enough?

()()()()()()

A soft beeping noise was the first thing that the girl could make out as she came to again. Her body felt unbelievably heavy, but at the same time, a little lighter than she had remembered. She pried her eye lids open, a thin layer of crusted mucus flaking off her eyelashes. the room before her was dim, but she made out some streams of light that slipped through the door. She blinked at the door, which was currently wide open. She took a deep breath and raised a hand to her face to rub her eyes.

In the middle of her rubbing, however, she realized something was wrong. She pulled her hand back and inspected it. She scoffed softly, seeing that her wrist was free. Her enjoyment unfortunately lasted only a moment, because if her hand wasn't restrained, something was up. She looked to her other hand, and saw that it was also unrestrained. She pulled at one of her feet, as both were both under a sheet, and found they were still restrained.

The girl tried to swallow the stale taste in her mouth, but since being so dehydrated, she was hardly able to produce any spit. She brought both hands up to her face and rubbed the drowsiness away. Her fingers dragged down her face as she looked out into the length of the room. She hadn't noticed a tv on the other end of the room, and she definitely hadn't realized that it was turned on.

Panic flooded her chest as she searched the room for any big figures, hoping that what she remembered was only a dream. Just as she had thought it, said big figure entered the room. The girl's eyes widened like a deer in headlights as she followed the figure with her eyes. She dared not to make sound, going unnoticed would be her best bet.

"Don't try to be slick now, I knew you're awake before I walked out of the room."

The girls eyes flicked up to meet a pair of amber ones that sat behind a pair of thick glasses. The hulking mass of turtle that he was turned his body to face her, and...smiled? Upon turning towards her, she also noticed that he was holding a mug of coffee in each hand. She could smell that beautiful dark liquid from a mile away.

The girl let out a shaky breath as he approached her, her hands subconsciously gripping the sheets below her almost to the point of tearing. His walk was something she almost wanted to chuckle at; a noticeable swaying from the transfer of weight from each foot and a spring in his heel that was a bit dorkish. For something so tall, he stood with a hunch in his back, whether that be from the equipment on his back or to make himself seem smaller.

She kept her eyes on him the whole time, never blinking. He too kept his eyes on her, but she hadn't really noticed as her eyes studied his whole person. He made his way to the cart sitting next to her bed and carefully set down a mug of coffee. The mug he set down was actually big for a mug, but it was definitely smaller than the one he held onto. He took a step back after placing it and sat himself down on a nearby stool.

"Go ahead, it's just coffee. Unless that's not something you're into, I can get you something else to drink." He said before he took a drink from his mug. She only kept staring at him.

The two sat in silence for another moment, then she decided the smell of freshly brewed coffee was too much to ignore. She took her eyes off him for a moment and grabbed the mug eagerly. She flicked her eyes between him and the mug, and then took a sip. That sip led to a long draw, and then to a big gulp. Her stomach was screaming at her for something, anything. The liquid burned her tongue and throat as it went down, but she was desperate.

Donnie leapt up to try to take the mug away before she hurt herself but with a flick of her hand she sent him back down into his seat. The jolt of energy shot through his body and grounded him to his stool. He looked at her with astonishment as she kept her hand held up and proceeded to down the rest of the mug. She finished it off and brought it down, taking in deep breaths to catch her breath again. The heat had burned the delicate tissue in her throat, but she didn't really care. She was thirsty and she wasn't one to complain in that moment.

"Water." was all she could make out through the panting. She lowered her hand and Donnie sprang up, still looking at her in awe. "Water!" she repeated again, more desperately.

"How did you- what...how?" Donnie sputtered more to himself as he frantically searched his lab for any water. He stumbled over a half package of bottled water and grabbed a couple with one hand and brought it back to the girl. He handed one to her and she immediately opened it and began to chug it. She let out a moan as the cool water soothed her burning throat. The coolness felt amazing as it went down and reached her stomach. She finished it rather quickly and let out a whimper when it was all gone. She threw it down and reached for the second one, but Donnie pulled it away.

"Ah ah ah, hold on." He waved a finger at her, to which she glared at him for. "Not just yet. You get this once you answer a few things for me."

Donnie held the bottle up out of reach as he explained his deal. The girl only let out a low groan as she sat back and folded her arms. She looked to the door for a moment, and then back to the turtle.

"How did you do that? Keep me in my seat?" Donnie asked, cocking his head towards her a bit. He waited for a few moments, but she wouldn't look at him. Here eyes seemed blank, and she acted as if she didn't hear him. But the slight quiver in her bottom lip said more about how she felt about him asking about than words could.

After another moment, he took a breath. She didn't seem particularly anxious to talk about whatever she had just done, and it really only seemed like she did it in the heat of the moment. It wasn't painful, just unexpected. He decided to leave it be for the moment. There were other important questions to ask, and what Leo didn't know wouldn't hurt him for the time being. Donnie hoped she wouldn't do the same to his brother. That could end badly.

"What's your name?" Donnie asked instead.

After a moment of no response, he sighed and spoke up. "Fine, I'll go first. My name is Donatello, but you can just call me Donnie. Or Don, it doesn't matter. Also, yes, I am a turtle, if you were wondering that."

Donnie sat patiently awaiting her response, but when she only stared at him still, he figured threatening to withhold water was going to be the only way through to her.

"Alright, I guess you won't need this-"

"Wait!" Her voice rasped out as Donnie moved to get up. Donnie turned back to her. Her eyes changed from boiling anger to exhaustion, and perhaps desperation in just a few moments.

"Please. I- I'm..." she tried to say, but her throat was so scratchy is made her cough.

"Take your time. What is your name? Who are you?" Donnie asked gently.

She swallowed and took a breath. "My name is Grace."

Satisfied, Donnie handed over the water bottle. Grace snatched the bottle from his hand and tore off the cap, raising it to her chapped lips quickly.

"Hey hey, slow down. You'll make yourself throw up. I'll take it away if you don't listen to me." Donnie threatened.

This seemed to get through to her, because she began to sip at it slowly. After a long draw from it, she lowered it to her lap, but still clutched it between both hands as if he were going to take it from her then.

Donnie readjusted himself on the stool before asking another question. "Do you, do you know who we are? Do you know where you are? Whats the last thing your remember?"

Grace stared at him for a moment out of the corner of her eye. She looked back at the water in her lap, and began to speak. "Am I not in New York City anymore?" she said just above a whisper.

Donnie cocked his head a bit to make sure he heard her correctly. "No, you're still here. We're just, in the sewers.

She looked back at him, searching his face. Once she saw the sincere look on his face, she relaxed a little. She brought the bottle up to her lips again and took another swig. She held the liquid in her mouth for a moment as she looked around the room. For some reason it didn't seem so dark and scary anymore. She swallowed and looked back at the turtle.

"I remember you stabbing me. Or well, more like throwing an unnecessarily huge blade at me. That landed through my leg." Grace said in a nonchalant manner.

Suddenly, it was like what she had just said clicked with her. She took one hand off the bottle and grabbed the sheet covering her legs and lifted it up. Her eyes widened at the sight of it wrapped up.

"What did you do to me?" She became frantic over the lack of visible leg. She pressed her hand over as much of her leg as she could. Donnie set his mug on the table behind him and put a hand on the side of the bed. He thought about what he could say to calm her down, but after she pulled off the rest of the sheet to see her leg was still fully there, she did so on her own.

She sighed, but still looked over it. "I just wanted to make sure it was still there."

Donnie frowned a bit, but let it go. "Of course it is. Just needed a lot of stitching, and you'll need physical therapy after the wound closes, but it didn't go through any bone or anything. It'll take time, but you seem tough enough. You did manage to outrun me and my brother for a while." He gave a small smile but she didn't notice.

Grace just shrugged. Donnie folded his arms in front of him for a moment before he remembered that he should check over her while she was awake. He stood up and made his way back to his desk. Grace flinched a bit when he got up and followed him with her eyes. He came back with a small pen light and a clipboard. He set the board down on the table behind him and scooted the stool up closer to the side of the bed. Grace instinctively moved back when he leaned towards her.

"I'm just going to shine this in your eyes. Your speech is normal, but I noticed your eyes have a slight nystagmus, or possible just some kind of vestibular dysfunction. I'm guessing its from either a concussion or some kind of head trauma. I remember you took a nasty fall before we grounded you. Do you remember much of the chase?"

She searched his eyes for a moment and shrugged softly. "I just remember running. A lot. And being tired. I also remember getting stabbed a couple a times. My shoulder burning, my lungs burning, my head spinning. And then everything goes blank. I wake up here and come face to face with some very...questionable looking people." She glanced between him and her water bottle that she was raising to her lips again. Just before she took another swig, she said, "No offense."

Donnie chuckled and shrugged. "I've heard worse."

Grace swallowed the water and nodded along. "So have I."

The purple clad turtle looked at her for a moment wondering what she had meant, but didn't say anything. He shook his head and told her to look at him while he checked her eyes.

"Just hold still."

* * *

Thank you thank you THANK YOU to all those who have read and commented and WAITED forever for the update to this story. Omg I am so bad at focusing on one thing at a time.

I get so easily sidetracked especially since school is online now and even then, I swear I'm losing days. I can never seem to remember what day of the week it is either. And so time slips away from me and I'm left to adding a little bit of this story very slowly.

But again, thank you for all of your support and patience :)

Also, this is in my eyes the Bay Movie turtles, and so in the 2k14 movie they were about 15, so in the 2k16 they were about 17, so this is gonna take place like 2019, so they'll be going on 20. So somewhat aged up? Idk yet, I'm just going off my own age lol.

Anyway...enjoy the new chapter!


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